The forgotten district
by Lovekooldude
Summary: With the rebelion in full swing district 13 are struggling. Katniss' curiosity may cause her to learn more than she is meant to, about what Coin is hiding. A trip to district four may just bring her one step closer to discovering the forgotten district.


In the twilight of morphling, images begin to surface through my muddle of thoughts. I picture Finnick weaving a net out of grass, me and Gale ,laughing ,as we wander through the woods, Mags grinning her toothless smile and finally, Peeta. We are sat in the cave in our first games. The rain is dripping from the roof and the there are mockingjays singing Rue's song faintly in the distance. There we are happy, staring into each others eyes wishing the world would disappear around us and leave us alone. Together.

As the drugs begin to wear off I am brought back to reality and away from the happy memories. I remind myself that the old Peeta is gone and I may never get him back. He thinks I'm a mutt; a creation of the Capitol, and I am starting to believe him. Ever since Prim's name was drawn from the reaping ball, my life has been a world of loss, pain and confusion. I don't know who I truly am anymore. I don't think anyone does.

The effects of the morphling have almost gone completely, and only then do I realise the shooting pain in my right shoulder. There's a knock at the door, shortly followed by Haymitch barging in, sluggishly followed by Gale. Just by looking at him I can tell Haymitch has found out. He crosses the room to the chair beside me and looks me in the eye.

"Katniss." His face is stern, "Why?"

I feel hundreds of reasons float around my head yet none of them can make it out of my mouth. So I find myself lay there in the silent hospital room unable to speak to either of them.

Coin had sent me and Gale out to district 9 to film some propos to be aired that night. Unable to argue with her we went with it, however she had made it clear that 9 was unstable so me and Gale had to keep a low profile. So we were flown out along with the rest of the team. On arrival we were met by a group of what I assumed to be peacekeepers, lined up I front of the justice building with their guns armed. As if it was instinct I immediately loaded my bow and sent an arrow flying in their direction. Just as I was loading my next arrow there was a loud bang and Boggs knocked my bow to the ground. Baffled, I looked around at the rest of the squad. Finnick had Gale pinned against the wall, who was trying to wriggle free. He had a firm grip of his gun and clearly intended to use it. "Finnick, let me go!"

"No you don't understand they aren't peacekeepers. It's a trap!" Unconvinced, Gale broke free from his grasp and knocked Finnick to the ground. Still yelling at Gale, he scrambled to his feet and dashed after him into the square. Deciding that Finnick was right about the trap I recovered my bow and bolted after them. "Stop!" I called after Gale but he didn't listen. He had his eyes locked on the peacekeepers and wasn't going back. We were only metres away from the justice building when the first bomb hit. It had landed a few blocks away, but it was enough to knock us backwards. Now it was Gale shouting, "Katniss get up! Come on!" I staggered to my feet and began to follow Gale to the hovercraft. My vision had become blurred, I was having trouble keeping up and Cinna's armour suddenly felt like it was made of bricks. Then the second bomb hit. Closer this time, causing me to collapse and black out. That's all I remember. After I blacked out everything seems just a blur. The next thing I knew I was in this hospital bed with a busted shoulder and a pounding head. Haymitch is still waiting for a reply so I simply say "I'm sorry." Not even clear if the bombing was my fault or not. Disapproving of my answer, Haymitch leaves the hospital looking frustrated and slams the door behind him, Gale however stays. "Why didn't you listen to Finnick?" I ask, even though I already know the answer.

"Like you ,when you shot the arrow, it was almost instinct to run forwards. Like an invisible force was pulling me towards them."

"So even though Finnick had you pinned against a wall and he was yelling that its a trap, you thought It was still a good idea to run."

"No. Well yes, but you felt it didn't you? The anger raging up inside and the urge to charge at them." I know what he means. As soon as I lay eyes on the peacekeepers I felt exactly that. If it hadn't have been for Boggs and Finnick I might have ended up running for them. Although when I ran after gale I think only part of me actually wanted to save him, most of my mind had been taken over with rage. "Anyway, if your feeling up to it, Beetee wants a talk with us down in special defence." Gale says as he goes to leave the room.

"Thanks." I'm running out of things to say and the pounding in my head isn't helping.

"No problem." And he leaves closing the door softly behind him.

At around 3pm I decide to make my way down to special defence. I have been down here many times but I swear they must change it around because I get lost nearly every visit. Eventually I find Beetee's room. Gale is already sat at his desk discussing something about snares, as per usual. "Ahh Katniss, glad you could make it. Here take a seat."

We seemed to be in there for hours. Beetee explained to us about the peacekeepers in 9 and how they work. Basically, they are high tech dummies that are designed to target people's emotions and control them. Like tracker jacker venom targets a persons fears and makes them reality, however this poison works by using electrical impulses. "Is that was caused the bombs?" I ask

"Oh no, the dummies don't have the power to cause such a thing. It was purely the fact that you were sighted that triggered the attack." I glare at Gale, partly blaming him for what I did even though I know the responsibility falls on my shoulders. We are both discharged from special defence and Gale accompanies me back to my quarters. "Gale you've been really quiet today. Have I done something to upset you?"

"No. It was my mistake, I won't make it again." At that he leaves, his words still hanging in the air. Mistake? What did he mean by that? Obviously running into the trap was a mistake, but did something happen after that second bomb? I rack my brains searching for some memory of the events after I blacked out, and there is only one clear memory I can form and, of course, its of Gale.

I am being carried by him towards a derelict warehouse across the street. There is the sound of gunfire in the distance, accompanied by the yelling of commands and the screams of the innocent. We reach safety and I notice the pain in my shoulder. The armour Cinna had designed obviously had its 'chinks' like the force field in the quell arena. I can feel my warm blood seeping through my under clothes as I lay on the cold, hard ground of the warehouse. Gale is now at my side whispering something that I can't quite make out, so I just lie there and stare at him. His face is shimmering with sweat from carrying me and he has been cut over his left eye, the blood from which has run down over his face. The memory grows foggy and begins to fade, however I manage to catch one last thing. Gale leans over, a drop of his blood lands on my cheek, and he kisses me.


End file.
